Issues Facing Portland Police Bureau
The Portland Police Bureau in Oregon, similar to other police departments, faces some policing issues that hinder the effective performance of its mandate. Examples of the salient issues facing Portland Police Bureau include ethical and effective policing issues, domestic violence issues, drug and substance abuse, gang problems, low police staffing, gun violence, hiring and training problems negative public perception of the bureau and high rates of crime.
One of the greatest issues facing the bureau currently is the low level of police staffing that has negatively impacted on its ability to effectively fight crime in the Oregon region. This low staffing is blamed mainly on poor leadership and lack of federal funds to raise the number of staff to the required levels. This issue is further complicated by the staff hiring and training problems that are facing the bureau. It has become increasingly difficult to maintain the requisite level of staff and hence even hiring new police staff to perform various operations has been a major problem. The Bureau currently lacks enough cadets, detectives, air support units, child abuse teams, patrol officers, crisis intervention teams, crisis response teams and rapid response teams thus lowering its ability to effectively deal with crime and law enforcement. A report by Reaves shows that most local and state police departments and bureaus are suffering from serious understaffing of sworn officers with ethnic or racial representation also relatively lower (5). Thus, there is need to ensure that the capacity of these departments and bureaus to employee more officers is increased through state and federal funding.
Low Public Confidence and Trust in the Bureau
According to Renauer et al., the public’s estimation of the bureau is low and hence most have lost confidence in the bureau’s ability to tackle crime in the Oregon area. However, according to a survey by these writers, the public perception of the bureau differed based on the participants’ age, gender and race. While most whites agreed that they PPB is on the right track and were confident with its decisions, a majority of minorities in the Oregon region were dissatisfied by the performance of the bureau in so far as fighting crime is concerned. A report by Gennaco, Rosenzweig and Ruhlin has implicated PPB’s officers in shootings and death of offenders in their custody (5).
Moreover, an investigative report by the Mayor of Portland City, Adams (2012), found several issues that were facing this bureau with reference to its ability to carry out its mandate of law enforcement. According to this report, the investigation was opened after it emerged that police officers attached at Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau were continuously engaged in patterns and practices of excessive use of force against members of the public. Particularly, the investigation noted that the bureau’s law enforcement officers were using lethal force against mentally ill people in Oregon, a practice that was and remains prohibited under the law. The report thus recommends that the police working with the bureau should consider using less lethal weapons when engaging with members of the public unless the excessive use of force is justified by exigencies of the situation. The force to be used should be reasonably necessary in accomplishing legitimate police objectives and must not be more than necessary in effectuating arrests. More importantly, the report notes that the major cause of this misconduct by the Portland Police Bureau law enforcement officers is the deficiencies that exist in training, policy, supervision and leadership of the bureau. There is therefore need for policy reforms at the bureau to align its practices with the legal requirements and ethical standards of conduct. Moreover, serious deficiencies in the bureau’s mental illness system for inmates were found by the investigators. This, coupled with constant claims of use of excessive force against people with mental illness, has brought about numerous civil suits against the bureau, thus painting it in bad light among the general public. The bureau also lacks officers who are trained specially for dealing with mental illness crisis.
Proposals for Change
In light of the above challenges or issues facing the Oregon Portland Police Bureau, a number of reforms may be recommended. Firstly, the bureau should seek to improve its publiv image and relations with the nearby community that it serves. This could be done through public engagement forums and workshops where the bureau invites members of the public to vent their grievances or complaints about the bureau’s officers’ performance and conduct. The information obtained from such outdoor campaigns can help it to come up with internal policies and strategies on how to improve its relationship with members of the Oregon city community. Most importantly, the bureau’s leadership should ensure that issues to do with race, use of excessive force and other misconduct are dealt with properly in order to boost public perception and confidence in the bureau. This is particularly important if its community policing strategies are to be successful in fighting crime in the larger Oregon city. According to Cratty, a plan supervised by court has been reached between the PPB and the Justice department that calls for reforms in the PPB’s use of excessive use of force and massive changes to the bureau’s policies, training and supervision (1).
In addition to this, with regard to hiring and staffing issues, the bureau through the Mayor should lobby for more funding to improve its human resource capacity. Furthermore, according to King (2), working at the PPB is no longer attractive to most prospective police officers due to low pay hence most people don’t consider it a place to begin one’s police career any longer. Thus, as a proposal, the bureau should create incentives that attract and retain people to the bureau in order to address the staffing issues.
Current Characteristics of PPB Organization, Recruitment, Training and Policies
The Portland Police Bureau is currently headed by the Mayor who is also acting as the Police Commissioner of the Police Bureau. The law enforcement agency has patrol officers, cadets and air support teams though as noted earlier there are still shortages in police membership at the bureau.
Recruitment
The Bureau does police recruitments by advertising the vacant posts in the Oregon newspapers where interested candidates can apply for the jobs. However, the bureau also does recruitment through agencies such as the National Testing Network (NTN) that helps it in administering the entry level police tests. In order for one to become a member of the Portland Community, this is a mandatory requirement and one must pass the test for them to be admitted into the police force. The recruitment process thus involves the entry level test, an oral board interview, a psychological test, a physical abilities test, background investigation test, psychological evaluation test, medical evaluation test and various workshops for the applicants. During the Oral Board Interview process, one is tested on social competence, decision making skills, dependability and cultural competencies.
Training of PPB Officers
The Portland Police Bureau has a training division that conducts reviews for police officers who are planning to join or who have joined the bureau. The training content includes police conduct, physical fitness, and use of force, criminal justice system and public relations among other areas. According to Bernstein (1), the Portland Police Bureau has unveiled a police training center that is expected to improve training of the bureaus’ staff. The training center also has academies where new recruits are trained on various areas and aspects of police operations at the bureau.
PPB Policies and Practices
The Portland Police Bureau’s operations ride on certain policies that include use of force, satisfactory performance, electronic control weapon systems (Taser), community policing and engagement, and social media use by PPB members or staff. Additionally, as Bernstein reports, the bureau has recently drafted a much more expansive policy that requires its officers to take into consideration the mental characteristic behaviors of those with mental illness. Called the ‘Mental Health Crisis Response’, the new policy directive demands that police officers working for the bureau apply special skills when dealing with individuals with mental illness in order to avert violence and risk the bureau facing civil liability suits. This is a significant move towards ensuring that the issue of use of excessive force by the PPB police against these groups of people in Oregon is dealt with. Further, according to the Portland Police Berea’s Manual of Policy and Procedure, some of the values that govern the police practice at the bureau include integrity, accountability, service, compassion, excellence and respect.
Works Cited
Adams, Sam. Investigation of the Portland Police Bureau. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, 2012. Web. 25 May 2016. <media.oregonlive.com/portland/PPB%20Letter%20of%20Findings.pd>.
Bernstein, Maxine. “Portland Police Bureau drafts new policy on responding to mental health crises.” Oregon Live. 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 25 May 2016. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/01/portland_police_bureau_drafts.html.
Bernstein, Maxine. “Portland police training center unveiled on Airport way.” Oregon Live. 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 May 2016. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/portland_police_training_cente.html.
Cratty, Carol. “Portland police, Justice Department agree on excessive force reform.” 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 25 May 2016. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/17/justice/portland-police-justice- department/.
Gennaco, Michael, Ilana Rosenzweig and Julie Ruhlin. Report to the City of Portland on Portland Bureau Officer-Involved shootings and in-custody deaths. Criminal Justice. Playa de Rey, CA: OIR Group, 2016.
Hales, Charlie and Michael Reese. Portland Police Bureau Annual Report. Portland, OR: Portland Police Bureau, 2013. Web. 25 May 2016. <https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/518831
>.
King, Robert J. "PPB no longer place to start career, pt2." The Rap Sheet 39.9 (2008): 1-16. Print.
Reaves, Brian A. "Local police departments, 2013: Personnel, police, and practices." Statistical. 2015. Web. 25 May 2016. <www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd13ppp.pdf>.
Renauer, Brian, et al. "Public perceptions regarding the Police Bureau and crime in Portland." 2013. Web. 25 May 2016. <http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cjpri_briefs/2>.
